2025 was a year of two halves. I devoted the first half to producing All the Broken Blades and promoting it. In the second half, I focused on completing the second draft of my novel. As a result, new short stories and poems took a back seat. But I do have a few things to present for award consideration.
All the Broken Blades – Best Related Work/Collection/Anthology
All the Broken Blades sits in an awkward spot of being a single-author short story/poetry collection featuring mostly previously published works. But it is eligible for award categories related to collections, anthologies, and related works of speculative fiction, such as:
“The Laughing Knight and the King of Ink: A Tragicomedy in 2.5 Acts” – Best Short Story
This short story appeared for the first time in All the Broken Blades in 2025. Therefore, it is eligible for Best Short Story categories in all the above-listed awards, plus the Hugo Awards and the Nebula Awards.
2026 Writer Bingo
In hopes of keeping myself focused and productive, I have created a Bingo sheet for 2026 goals. I’ve tried many things over the years to fix my (very poor) ability to focus, from daily schedules to productivity planners, and I must report: they all failed. Maybe this will be the one that works?
One key feature of the Bingo is, I’ve only included items within my control. These things are centred around my own output: the words I write, the queries/submissions I send, the events I attend. I have not included things like “publish X number of stories” or “sign with an agent” because these are things outside my direct control. As a poster hanging over a lunchroom sink once told me, “Today I will not stress over things I can’t control.”
“Cthulhu on the Shores of Osaka” won Best Poem/Song
“Blood and Desert Dreams” won Best Short Story
Huge thanks to the editors who published me over the years, the writing groups who asserted positive peer pressure, and the friends who believed in me even when I was thoroughly sick of my own writing.
You can watch a replay of the livestream here. My speeches are at 59:25 and 1:09:51. Warning: I used up my good jokes the first time around.
“Cthulhu on the Shores of Osaka” – Winner of Best Poem/Song
Yes, there’s a physical award with my name on it! This is the Best Poem/Song award for “Cthulhu on the Shores of Osaka.”
I’ve threatened to write a Cthulhu takoyaki story for years. When I learned that Cthulhu was basically a giant octopus, my first thought was, “Ah, food!” Maybe, depending on where he washes ashore, people may not gaze upon him with awe or fear, or even with scientific reverence. They may well witness the one-and-only eldritch god (an endangered species if there ever was one) and decide he makes a good meal.
Takoyaki–fried octopus balls–is a Japanese street food that originated in Osaka. It’s enjoyed all over the world now, though name is bit misleading–most of the snack is the batter, with only a tiny tendril of octopus tentacle inside.
So why not turn a horrifying and unknowable deity into a snack ingredient, basically the side dish of a side dish? Thus was the birth of “Cthulhu on the Shores of Osaka.”
I wrote this poem in a single day as part of Toronto Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ annual one-shot anthology series (participants must write their pieces within the span of 24 hours, and the works are compiled in a book after). The editing mostly consisted of debating someone about the exact pH of stomach acid.
This one-shot writing challenge has spawned many of my works over the years; some stories I initially drafted during the challenge but choose not to include them in the one-shot anthologies, instead editing them past the 24-hour period and publishing the works elsewhere.
“Blood and Desert Dreams” – Winner of Best Short Story
And here is the Best Short Story award for “Blood and Desert Dreams.” To my surprise, both awards came with the announcement envelope–I didn’t realize I’d be the one to keep those!
Speaking of which, “Blood and Desert Dreams” was originally drafted during a one-shot writing challenge. I did get the story done in a day, but soon after I received an invitation from a previous editor to submit to his magazine.
I opted to not include “Blood and Desert Dreams” in the Legacy one-shot anthology, thinking it might be a good fit for the magazine that published me before. Alas, after heavy consideration, the editor… didn’t end up buying my story.
But Scott H. Andrews at Beneath Ceaseless Skies did! We worked through multiple rounds of editing to create the version before you today, which is quite different from what I had the night of the one-shot anthology. “Blood and Desert Dreams” was once even more ambiguous, if you can believe that. Scott respected my vision of the unreliable narrator and “unique” ending (trying to not spoil anything), but he found ways to make the concept clearer. I did not want to mould the ending into a singular entity that it wasn’t, but Scott’s ideas preserved my vision while also making it palatable.
When award and “year’s best” compilation season hit, I experienced mixed feelings. “Blood and Desert Dreams” was my favourite among the three stories I published last year, but should I really ask people to consider it for year’s best anthologies or awards? It is ambitious, sure, and very representative of my writing. But I kept having flashbacks to early reader and editor feedback, about how difficult it was to understand. Had Scott’s edits been enough to broaden the appeal? Could there even be a broad appeal to a story with “that” ending?
The Aurora Awards in their natural habitat, or so I pretend. Truth is, this isn’t even my house and I’m still figuring out where to display them…
What’s next? I’m still hard at work on my dark fantasy novel. Day job is still running interference (don’t get me wrong–I love my day job; it just consumes a lot of my time). I’ll be attending Word on the Street (Toronto) and Can*Con (Ottawa). And at some point, I will turn my gaze to that second short story collection, because the science fiction and urban fantasy also deserve their forever homes.
In the meantime: stay hydrated, watch this space for announcements, and don’t forget to devour all your cosmic horrors!
This poem originally appeared in Invitation: A One-shot Anthology of Speculative Fiction. It was subsequently nominated in the 2025 Aurora Awards for Best Poem/Song. I am making it available online so that everyone can enjoy. Bon appétit!
Cthulhu on the Shores of Osaka
The Eldritch God drifts in coastal waters, stretching barnacled tentacles toward a beach of white-gold sand. Through galaxies and black holes he’d been called; Cthulhu goes only where invited.
Once he had been invoked by absolute despair, by abnormal horror, by the terror and ravenous imagination of a feeble man. This time (he sensed) the call smelled different, tasted different.
That great gelatinous head rose from the waves and released the wordless song that had devoured comets, devoured stars, sent wizened poets to despair. Upon the nascent stones of the beach he spread his multitude limbs, the squish of grasping suckers.
He awaits for the despairing to fall to their knees to claw off oily clumps of hair and bloodied bits of scalp, to scream. Scream they do, if little else. The Eldritch God knows every tongue so he understands when they say, “Incredible! Magnificent! Such size!”
One steps closer, lifting an iron butcher’s cleaver. “Perfect!”
Sunlight on a heavy blade, quick swing, clean cut. The Eldritch God does not bleed.
Slurp. One sucker tugged into the man’s mouth, sucked down his gullet screaming all the way— because Cthulhu feels even when severed. Until tentacle flesh loses a battle to stomach acid (pH approaching 1.5).
The man nods approval, hacks off more flesh —an entire segment of tentacle— and stumbles from the weight of his prize. The Eldritch God scrabbles, grabs, misses. Cthulhu cannot go further, uninvited and unfeared. Even gods become beached, become grounded.
The man vanishes, returns with balls of battered wheat flour that he feeds a scraggy companion. “See, what did I say? Octopus over marinated meat!”
From his words spawn a storm of knives and nets, of carving and arguing, of sundered god-flesh and ineffectual echoes of cosmic terror.
The Eldritch God is partitioned, divided, devoured, some parts frozen and stored for later use. He chants spectral litanies which fall upon deaf ears, cotton-balled already with more Elder(ly) Gods or perhaps only culinary obsession.
Sometimes Cthulhu awakens in pH approaching 1.5, reaches delicate feelers to a receptive mind, induces a sweet moment of madness, and dreams of the stars. But mostly, the God slumbers in lakes of acid, in cellars beneath the ice, in a street vendor’s magnum opus, in little corners of history where eldritch songs are welcome and powerless.
It’s that time of year again. No, not talking about Christmas (though, early Merry Christmas to those who celebrate). It’s award eligibility season!
In 2024, I published three short stories and will have one poem forthcoming in the tail end of the year:
“Blood and Desert Dreams” (short story) in Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Kahna’s blood is poison, fatal to anyone who touches just one drop. Raised in the household of the ambitious Lady Darya, Kahna is trained as an assassin, using her unique power to eliminate Lady Darya’s enemies. Kahna is more than willing to anything for Lady Darya, but as the weight of her crimes pile up, Kahna’s world—and mind—begin to fracture. Read online.
“The Last Fugu House of Shimonoseki” (short story) in F(r)iction: Ayami is Shimonoseki’s last fugu chef. In a world where virtual reality has taken over, real life experiences—from natural wonders to historical architecture to fine dining—have become obsolete. Now, on the closing day of Sushi Maekawa, Ayami must make her final meals of deadly pufferfish and figure out what is next for her life and career. Read online.
“House of Jade Lions” (short story) in Other: the 2024 speculative fiction anthology: A noble family is trapped in a nightmarish house by (maybe) the decorative jade lions hanging from the ceilings. In the House of Jade Lions, Eldest Sister dangles from the balcony, Mother kills Father every evening, and the narrator is shrinking into a doll. The narrator reflects on all that led them here, including Mother’s ambition and his own wish for the family to stay unchanging forever. Get the book.
“Cthulhu on the Shores of Osaka” (poem) in Invitation: A One-Shot Anthology of Speculative Fiction: This one’s not out yet, but TDotSpec is endeavouring to have the anthology out before end of the year. I will update the post with the link to the anthology as soon as it’s released. As for the contents… well, the title is self-explanatory. (EDIT: Invitation was released December 29, 2024. Get the book: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca)
Awards and How to Support
Some awards I am eligible for:
The Hugo Awards: Nominations will open in early 2025. To nominate, a person would need to purchase a membership to the World Science Fiction Society before January 31, 2025, or to have been a member during Glasgow Worldcon in 2024. After nominations close, voting will be open to all members of Seattle Worldcon in 2025. My short stories are eligible for the Best Short Story category, and my poem will be eligible for Best Poem—a special category in the 2025 Seattle Worldcon.
The Nebula Awards: Full, Associate, and Senior Members of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) can nominate and vote for the Nebula Awards. My short stories are eligible for the Short Story category.
The Aurora Awards: Award for the best Canadian science fiction and fantasy of the year. Members of the Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association are allowed to nominate and vote. My short stories are eligible for the Best Short Story category, and my poem will be eligible for Best Poem/Song.
What you can do to support:
If you would like to participate in the Hugo Awards: Become a member of the World Science Fiction Society. You don’t need to attend Worldcon to be a member; basic membership grants you the right to nominate if purchased before end of January 2025, and the right to vote.
If you are Canadian: Become a member of the Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association to nominate and vote. As a side note, membership gets you access to digital copies of the works on the shortlists, so think of it as getting an ultra-affordable ebook package.
2024 in Review
2024 has been a year of novelty and reconnection. I ventured into things I hadn’t done before, or resumed activities I’d let fall by the wayside. These include:
Ran a successful Kickstarter for my fantasy short story collection, All the Broken Blades
Reunited with my love for photography and photo-editing
Began updating this blog again regularly
It’s been an adventurous year. Next year, hopefully, will bring even bigger and better things. In the meantime, I will continue working on proofreading and book creation for All the Broken Blades.
